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Tuesday, 15 November 2011

A researcher working on a legume crop that is drought - and waterlogging - tolerant is The University of Western Australia's first PhD graduate from Timor-Leste.

Dr Marcal Gusmao will use the knowledge gained at UWA to help the development of agriculture in his country.

His doctorate in agricultural science will enable him to pass on methods of improving crop yields to his students at the National University of Timor-Leste, where he is also working for a United Nations development program on climate change.

Dr Gusmao's research involved assessing grass pea, which, unlike other legumes, produces a respectable seed-yield under stress.

Timor-Leste is among the world's 10 poorest countries where about 40 per cent of households rely on subsistence agriculture.  Many experience hunger for up to four months a year.  Food insecurity mostly affects the poor.  Most of the rural population produces insufficient crop staples to last a full 12 months and the nation imports 60 per cent of its rice to feed the expanding population, which stands at 1.2 million.

Dr Gusmao presented his findings at international food legumes conferences in Turkey and Syria.  He was funded by the Australian Centre of International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and a UWA Post Graduate Research Travel Award.

Dr Gusmao enrolled at UWA after meeting the Director of the University's Institute of Agriculture, Winthrop Professor Kadambot Siddique, in Timor-Leste in 2006.  Professor Siddique encouraged him to apply for a John Allwright Fellowship from ACIAR.

UWA is also involved in a program to alleviate hunger in Timor-Leste.  A collaboration between ACIAR, AusAID, UWA, and the Timor-Leste Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, the Seeds of Life III program aims to increase production of Timor-Leste's staple food crops.  It builds on Seeds of Life I and II which began in 2001 to develop a sustainable national seed system.

Media references

Winthrop Professor Kadambot Siddique (+61 8)  6488 7012
(Director, UWA Institute of Agriculture)
Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 5563  /  (+61 4) 32 637 716

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